Chavez spreads oil wealth abroad

NATALIE OBIKO PEARSONAssociated Press Writer

Published Sunday, October 15, 2006

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay -- As Venezuela lobbies for a U.N. Security Council seat, President Hugo Chavez has bolstered its chances by spreading petrodollars across the Americas and beyond -- extending an airstrip on a Caribbean island, sending emergency food aid to Africa, fixing a rundown hospital in Uruguay.

Chavez's international support will be put to the test on Monday as Venezuela goes up against U.S.-backed Guatemala in a General Assembly vote. At the same time, Chavez is confronting accusations at home that his generosity has been excessive, and has argued it's a modest amount of aid for nations he sees as suffering from U.S. domination.

At Uruguay's Hospital de Clinicas, a state-of-the-art transplant unit is being built with Venezuelan money. The emergency ward's leaky roof and exposed cinderblocks have given way to freshly painted walls, windows in rust-corroded frames are being replaced, and new elevators are on order.

Hospital director Graciela Ubach put a hand over her heart to show her gratitude to Chavez.

"I thank him with my soul," she said. "Honestly, it's been a dream for the country."

The public hospital struggled for funding for years until Venezuela came through with $20 million -- half in donations and the other half to be paid off in reciprocal training and other services.

Other Chavez pledges include: $260 million in financing to repave a Jamaican highway and $17 million in upgrades to airports on the Caribbean islands of Antigua and Dominica.

Chavez also came up with $5 million for an Uruguayan tire plant, glass business and leather factory as part of a $400 million flow of aid since March 2005, when Uruguay's leftist President Tabare Vazquez took office, according to the Venezuelan Embassy in Uruguay.

According to the U.S. State Department, which tracks the bulk of foreign aid, $3.3 billion was allocated in financial and development aid to Latin America and the Caribbean for all of 2005 and 2006, including military and anti-narcotics programs. Other estimates, which include aid not tallied by the State Department, put that figure closer to $4 billion.

A consolidated figure for Venezuelan aid is harder to come by, but a review of public pledges by its government suggest Venezuela, with an economy one-ninetieth the size of America's, has offered at least $1.1 billion since the beginning of 2005 in loans, donations and financial aid in the region.